


Little Pirate Ficlets

by xhookswenchx (ReluctantPrincess)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Family, Fluff, little pirates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-09-15 05:39:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16927485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReluctantPrincess/pseuds/xhookswenchx
Summary: Little Pirate ficlets from prompts and my mind.





	1. Sick Days

**Author's Note:**

> Charlie wants his Papa.

“Babe?” Emma gently shook him, but in his drug addled state, it felt more like an earthquake. “Sorry…” she apologized when he cracked his eyes open.

“What’s wrong, luv?” he asked.

“I know I said I’d take the kids out so you could get some rest, but Charlie is having a fit.” She sighed when their son toddled into the room.

Killian could hear Charlie’s soft little sniffles. He sat up and patted the space next to him. “Come on, lad,” he said. His heart almost burst when Charlie stopped crying and excitedly scrambled up onto the bed. It wasn’t often that the little boy left Emma’s side, so illness be damned. Killian wasn’t going to deny Charlie some father-son time.

“Let him stay,” he said. “He’ll be all right.”

“Are you sure?” Emma asked. “I mean, that Nyquil seems to be kicking in-”

“We’ll just watch some cartoons,” he assured her. “It’ll be fine.”

She looked unsure, but kissed both their foreheads, warning Charlie to “be good for your Papa,” before leaving the room.

The second she was out the door, Charlie stood up and put his little hand on Killian’s cheek. After a moment, he frowned. “Feber,” he stated.

Before Killian could stop him, Charlie was off the bed and running down the hall. Just as he debated going after him, his son returned with a blanket and bottle of water. 

“Stay hydate,” he instructed, handing Killian the bottle.

“Thank-”

Charlie had already dropped the blanket and was out of the room again. When he returned, he had what Killian recognized as the kids’ “boo-boo buddy” and his giant stuffed Kraken. After tossing it all on the bed, he grabbed the blanket and scrambled back up.

“Papa nap,” he demanded, pointing at the pillow. When Killian tried to protest, he scowled. “Nap, Papa!”

“All right, lad,” Killian chuckled. He laid down and let Charlie drape the blanket over him. Next, he felt the ice pack clunk onto his head.

“For feber,” Charlie explained. It really didn’t help with the chills, but Killian thought it best not to argue. 

After assessing his work, Charlie grabbed his Kraken and cuddled up next to Killian. “Nap, Papa,” he said again. “Yuv you.”

“Love you too, lad,” Killian said sleepily. He might not have actually felt any better, but his heart was so full it felt like it might burst. Charlie wasn’t his usual cuddle buddy. The boy was too energetic to really sit still for much of anything. But now, here he was, all snuggled up and patting Killian’s arm. Willing to take a dreaded nap just to make his Papa feel better.

* * *

 

“Oh god,” he heard Emma sigh. Then he heard a quiet laugh, and an apology when he opened his eyes.

“What’s going on, luv?” Killian asked, unaware that he’d even fallen asleep. Charlie was still snuggled up against him, asleep. He looked sweet, innocent, and… covered in glitter. Confused, Killian shifted and looked at the bed, which was also covered in glitter. 

“Look at your arm,” Emma snickered.

Also, covered in glitter. 

“What the bloody hell happened?” he asked.

Charlie grumbled and finally woke. He took one look at Killian and smiled. “Feber gone?” he asked.

Still confused, Killian raised an eyebrow, noting that more glitter was falling as he moved. “What is all this?” 

“Pixie Dust,” Charlie stated matter-of-factly. “For feber.” He placed a hand on Killian’s cheek and smiled. “It work!”

Emma looked as though she was about to lose it. “Charlie, why don’t you let Papa get cleaned up, and I’ll give you a bath?” 

“No!” Charlie protested. “I take care of Papa!”

Killian laughed. “Why don’t you just work your magic on this one, luv?” he suggested. “The lad and I can take it from there.”

 

 


	2. Toddlers and Trees

“Mama!” Hope wailed. “Why you hurt Papa?????” She was absolutely inconsolable. It definitely wasn’t the reaction Killian had been expecting when he suggested telling the girls their story.

Perhaps he should have left out the part where Emma tied him to a tree. The part about leaving him for the ogres was probably just a bit much too.

In all honesty, they’d left out some of the more gruesome details. Things toddlers weren’t exactly ready to hear. Emma figured some of Cora’s antics were just a bit much for a bedtime tale. But Killian insisted the story just wouldn’t be the same if they left out their first little standoff.

Apparently, Hope saw it differently.

“Baby, it was a long time ago,” Emma tried to explain.

Hope didn’t want to hear it. She dodged Emma’s attempt at a hug and ran straight for Killian. “Do you hurt, Papa?” Hope asked, big, fat tears falling down her cheeks.

Leia didn’t seem as upset about the scenario. In fact, she seemed more amused than anything else. “It’s a ‘venture story, Hopie,” she stated. “There’s s’posed to be ogres and stuff.”

“But Mama did a mean!” Hope started wailing again.

“I did somewhat deserve it,” Killian tried. “I wasn’t very nice. And like Mama said, it was a long time ago. We’re fine now, and it makes for a good story.”

“But it _real_!” Hope exclaimed. “Not make-beeeeeeweeve.”

Killian stifled a chuckle at the drawn out word. Laughing now would only make things worse. “Sweetheart, your mother loves me-”

“Nuh-uh!” Hope snapped. “She tie you up!”

Emma and Killian exchanged a glance. Neither of them were doing any good in explaining this away. In addition to their plight, Leia was getting annoyed that the story had come to a halt.

“All right,” Emma said. “Yes, I wasn’t really nice to your Papa back then. But if you let him finish the story, you’ll see that everything turns out all right. I didn’t leave him for the ogres, and-”

“You fell in love?” Leia asked.

Hope stopped crying for a moment and looked from Emma to Killian skeptically.

“Eventually,” Killian nodded. “Took awhile. Your mother can be quite stubborn sometimes.”

Emma narrowed her eyes at him. “And your father can be a pain in the butt sometimes.”

“But you yuv him?” Hope asked.

“Very much,” Emma nodded.

The answer seemed to satisfy Hope for the moment.

“So can we hear the rest now?” Leia asked.

“I think we should give it a rest for the time being,” Killian suggested. “Just know that we all lived happily ever after.” Silently, he swore off the story until the girls were _much_ older and far more likely to be disinterested in their parents’ tale.

“You’re so cheesy,” Emma teased, leaning over to give him a kiss on the cheek.

“You gonna be gross now?” Hope made a face when Killian made a silly kissy face at Emma.

“I think it’s time for bed,” Emma said. When the girls began to whine, she smiled. “If you’re good, maybe we can go to Granny’s and get some of those big cinnamon rolls you guys like.”

“Night!” They darted off to their room where they would not so patiently wait to be tucked in.

Killian nodded towards the stairs. “Shall we go tuck them in?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Emma agreed. As they stood, she added: “You know… it’s probably a good thing we never made it to the beanstalk. The girls would probably burn me at the stake.”

“Perhaps I’ll even the score a bit next time and tell them I locked  you in a dungeon,” he laughed.

“Maybe next time we should just go with _Green Eggs and Ham_.”

“But what if I wanted to tell _you_ a story?” he asked. “Dr. Seuss isn’t exactly your style.”

“I like the part where the pirate who gets the girl,” she said with a mischievous grin. “Maybe after we tuck the kids in, you can tell me that one.”

“As you-”

“‘Scuse me!” Leia shouted.  “We’re not getting tucked in here!”

Emma sighed. “Well… at least they sleep through the night. Storytime later I suppose.”

_He couldn’t wait._

 


	3. Difficult Discussions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, the kids are dealing with the death of Wilby, Charming’s very loyal, very loved doggo. The Swan-Jones kids are distraught about losing such a loved member of the family, and Emma reflects a bit on Killian’s brushes with death. The kids in this fic are: Oliver - 11
> 
> Leia - 10
> 
> Hope - 8
> 
> Charlie - 6
> 
> Ivy - 4

 

Emma hadn’t meant for the children to hear about their father’s deaths. She was simply having a conversation with her mother, wishing there was some way she could bring back their dog. Well… not  _ their  _ dog, really. Wilby was her parents’ dog, and he’d gotten fairly sick over the past year. The kids were all attached to him, so when her father called that morning to inform them that he’d passed, the kids had become inconsolable.

Which led to her mother coming over to try and help comfort them. Which led to the conversation. Which led to the overheard information.

They’d never intended to hide anything from the children, but felt they were too young to hear something quite so traumatic about their parents. Then, there was the confusion that followed.

“If you can bring back Papa, does that mean you can bring back Wilby?” Hope asked. 

How was she supposed to explain that wasn’t how it worked, when in Killian’s case, that seemed to be  _ exactly  _ how it worked? 

“It’s different,” Snow tried to explain, seemingly just as lost as Emma was in the situation. The kids looked at both of them expectantly, and it was obvious they were not going to take just  _ any  _ answer.

“Wilby was old,” Emma reminded them. “Not only that, but he lived a lot longer than most dogs.”

That was apparently the wrong thing to say. 

“Papa’s lived longer than most people!” Charlie wailed. This set off yet another round of tears. 

“Papa very old,” Ivy confirmed through sniffles. “Is he gonna die too?”

“And what if he doesn’t come back next time?” Hope added.

_ Well, shit. It got worse. _

“Okay, come on.” Emma stood and ushered the kids out of the kitchen and towards the living room. She heard Snow following behind them. While Emma gathered the kids on the couch, her mother sat in the chair across from them. 

“There’s not gonna be a next time, right, Mama?” Oliver asked. “Parents live forever… right?” 

“No one lives forever,” Leia corrected.

“Mama!” Ivy wailed. 

“Why don’t we just take a minute to calm down, okay?” Emma asked. She knew the subject of death was something they’d have to explain at some point. In some ways, they  _ had  _ explained it to the older children, but it had never hit them so close before. And they’d never had to worry about their father’s mortality before either.

“No one lives forever,” Emma confirmed. “But your Papa is going to be just fine. What happened in the past… is probably just a bit too complicated to understand at this point.”

“Is it part of your story?” Leia asked.

Emma nodded. “But it’s not one that we like to think about often. And when you guys wanna hear stories of our adventures, we’d much rather tell you the fun ones.”  _ To prevent the nightmares that seem to plague us still,  _ she added silently. “So, yes. Your Papa has died before. But it wasn’t his time, so he was able to come back. I also get that he’s older than most people, but you have to keep in mind that he was in Neverland for centuries and that prevented him from aging.”

She heard Snow stifle a laugh when Ivy raised her eyebrow in confusion. 

“See?” Emma shrugged. “Complicated. But I don’t want you guys to worry about any of that, okay?”

“But what if somefing happens?” Ivy asked quietly.

“I can’t promise nothing will happen,” she answered, hating to give them even more uncertainty. But she couldn’t lie. “We’re doing our very best to make sure everyone in our family is happy, healthy, and safe. I don’t want you worrying about bad things that may or may not happen, because you’re going to miss out on all the good things that  _ do  _ happen.”

“And Papa’s okay?” Oliver asked.

“You guys know I drag him to the doctor every year for a checkup, just like I do with you guys. If anything was wrong, we would know. And nothing’s wrong. He’s perfectly happy and healthy, and he is going to be here a long time.”

“And you too?” Charlie asked.

“And me too,” Emma confirmed.

That seemed to appease them for the time being. She knew there would be more questions about death, more mourning Wilby, and maybe even some more worrying about mortality. But for now, they were satisfied that everything was okay. 

Things went to hell again when Killian walked in the door. He didn’t so much as get out an “I’m home,” when the children bombarded him. 

“Hey now,” He chuckled. “What’s going on here? Not that I’m complaining, but perhaps we should move this group hug to the couch?” 

“Don’t die, Papa,” Ivy insisted once they were seated. 

“Is that what this is all about?” Killian asked, holding them all as tightly as he could. It was quite the feat considering there were five of them all competing to be the closest to him. “I’m not going to die,” he promised.

“Leia said everyone dies,” Charlie stated.

“Eventually,” Killian agreed. “But I’m going to be here for a long time. I’m not going anywhere any time soon.”

“Mama said you already died,” Oliver chimed in.

“Lotsa times,” Leia added.

_ Oh. _

Emma let out a sigh. “To be fair, they weren’t supposed to hear all that. And I tried to explain it to them, but you know how complicated magic can be.”

“Mama said we can bring you back, but not Wilby,” Hope informed him.

It all made sense now. Of course Wilby’s death would bring questions from the children and Emma would be dealing with her own feelings on the subject. 

“Magic can be complicated,” he agreed with Emma. “And death is really a part of life. I know the fact that I managed to come back can be confusing to you, but the situation was much different.” He wasn’t sure exactly how much they’d heard, but he figured that was a good enough answer for the time being. They didn’t need more details when they were already traumatized. “Wilby was old, and it was his time to go. He’s in a much better place now.”

“Like Heaven?” Ivy asked.

“Something like that I suppose,” he nodded. “He was a good dog, I can’t imagine he’d go anywhere but a place like Heaven.” He didn’t want to open the discussion to his own experience with the afterlife. There were good places and bad places, and it was best to just let them believe in the good ones for the time being. 

“And we don’t gotta worry about you?” Charlie asked.

“You don’t have to worry about me, lad,” Killian confirmed.

“But can we just stay here for now?” Hope asked. The other children seemed to share her sentiment. 

“For as long as you like,” he said. It wasn’t often that they all calmed down at the same time. It was even  _ less  _ often that they were all in agreement over something. So, if they wanted to sit on the couch and cuddle with him, he wouldn’t dare move them.

Even long after his legs fell asleep. 


	4. Anniversaries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Those two Little Pirate drabbles were hilarious. It made me think of a prompt for you: The Jones kids surprising their parents for their wedding anniversary. [Then Snowing gives them the real gift of taking the kids out for the day... How do you think Ivy was born? ;) Or something along those lines]

Emma had never in her life been more grateful for her kids… or her magic. Henry had insisted that he’d done his best to keep the chaos at a minimum, but with three little ones in the kitchen, the only outcome possible was disaster. (Not to mention, having all that spillable food in the bedroom  _ could  _ have been a disaster without a little magical intervention.) As far as anniversaries went though, Emma had to admit that pancakes with goldfish cracker crumbs was probably the best breakfast in bed she’d ever received. 

“Charlie poofed the crackers in there,” Leia tattled. “Cuz Henry wouldn’t give him the spoon.”

“I’d say Henry made a good call there,” Killian chuckled. Charlie didn’t look too put out anymore over it. In fact, he was too busy trying to snag a bite of Killian’s toast. There was no time to worry about spoons when food was involved. 

“All right,” Henry said. “I gotta get going to work. I already did a quick cleanup downstairs, but I’ll finish up when I come back for lunch.” He gave Emma and Killian a serious look. “I mean it.  _ I’ll _ clean it up. You guys just enjoy your anniversary.”

“Gramma’s coming later!” Hope exclaimed once Henry had left.

“Hopie!” Leia scolded. “That was a sah-prize!”

“It’s all right,” Killian said. “Let’s not argue. Why don’t we get up and get on with our day, aye?”

Emma wasn’t sure what her parents had planned, but if the kids were  _ this  _ excited, she knew it had to be something good.

She didn’t have to wait long. Shortly after everyone was up, dressed, and ready for the day, her parents were at the door. Emma was grateful. Mostly because having her parents there would be a distraction from the mess Henry insisted she didn’t touch. 

Only, her parents announced that they weren’t sticking around. Within minutes, they had the kids gathered up and out the door. Apparently, Henry had packed bags for them the night before. 

“I can just use my magic on the kitchen,” Emma said once they were alone. “Really-”

“Luv,” Killian interrupted. “I’m certain that all this was planned so we could have a nice anniversary. So let’s not worry about the mess, and just enjoy our day. How do you feel about sailing?”

It had been a long time since they’d gone sailing without the kids. “I think you have a point. We  _ are  _ a little overdue for some alone time.”

When Emma announced her pregnancy a few weeks later, Henry announced his need to find his own place.


	5. Birthdays

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Thank you for doing those two Little Pirate drabbles for me. I loved them! Would you be up for one more? The kids realize they celebrate all of each other’s and mommy’s and grandpa/grandma’s bdays but not daddy’s. So they want to throw him a party. Emma has to subtlety try to figure out at least which season Killian was born in/his approx age (I always think he was closer to 300 based on the way Rumple talked about his own age). It just has to include “we didn’t have enough candles, daddy.” Haha
> 
>  
> 
> (Catching up on my little pirate prompts over on tumblr!)

Sometimes, being married to an ancient pirate could be frustrating. Every year they celebrated plenty of things together. When the kids came along, quite a few birthdays got thrown into the mix.

Before the kids, Emma had made an attempt to add Killian to the birthday celebration list, but he had shrugged it off. Now, she had Leia, Hope, and Charlie all asking her one question:

“Why don’t we celebrate Papa?”

Even _she_ didn’t know when his birthday was. Not for lack of trying. After awhile, she began to wonder if he’d forgotten himself. Still, the kids insisted Killian have a birthday party, so she had to figure out when exactly that was.

Of course, she had to be sneaky because Leia insisted the party be a surprise. Unfortunately, that was the one thing all the kids had to agree on.

Killian proved to be difficult. Not that that was a surprise. She started by asking if he actually knew how old he was. That was met with a shrug. She tried again by asking if he knew how old he was when he went to Neverland.

Killian did not want to discuss Neverland.

Frustrated, she went to her father, hoping that maybe he and her husband had discussed _something_ useful whenever they got together. It turned out, their male bonding days were mostly spent doing stupid things that she really didn’t want to hear about.

At her wits end, she went to Rumple. It was a dumb idea, but her last resort. There, she was met with nothing more than an eye roll.

“Fine,” she snapped. “How old are _you_ then?”

 _That_ hadn’t gone over well at all.

By the end of the week, she had all but given up. She figured the kids could just throw a party without all the details.

“Emma?” Killian asked when he slid into bed next to her. “Are you still awake, luv?”

Part of her just wanted to pretend to be asleep. She wasn’t anywhere near in the mood to hear whatever it was he was going to say. It was late, she was annoyed, and now had to figure out a way to throw a party even though she’d failed miserably.

But that wasn’t Killian’s fault. Really, if she’d just told him that the kids wanted to know, he would have told her everything he could remember. Maybe… maybe he could pretend to be surprised?

“I’m awake,” she said quietly.

“I’m not sure why the information is so important,” he sighed. “But Belle said you tried to interrogate Rumple earlier this week, so I can only assume you were desperate.”

She had to laugh at that. _If he only knew._

“So when _is_ your birthday, Captain?” she asked as she turned to face him. Her heart almost broke when his face fell in response. “Killian?”

“Honestly, luv… I can’t really remember,” he admitted. “It’s been so long since I’ve celebrated. And I stopped counting the years well over a century ago. When you asked me all those years ago, it was just easier to pretend it wasn’t important, rather than admit that it was something I purposefully forgot.”

“I’m sorry.” She reached over and gave his hand a squeeze. “I was so adamant about it, that I didn’t think you might have some bad memories you didn’t want to relive.”

“They weren’t always bad,” he said. “Just… after I lost everyone, I didn’t see the point in celebrating much of anything.”

“Maybe you’d be okay with sharing some of your happier memories?” she suggested.

* * *

They might never figure out Killian’s real birthdate, or even come close to guessing his age, but Emma was relieved to discover that the kids were happy knowing that their father was a summer baby.

She was glad that they didn’t have to wait an entire year to celebrate, and even more grateful that it was warm enough to throw the party outside. Henry agreed with her there. “If they’re going to get all sugared up, it’s best we have plenty of space for them to run off the resulting sugar high. I’m wondering though… do you think maybe we should have gone with a less… four year old theme?”

Emma shrugged. “They’re going with what they know. He’ll love it because it’s from them, and they love it, because their big brother is tall enough to help with the pinata.”

“Thanks,” Henry rolled his eyes. “Guess I’d better go get that set up.”

“Did you get the cake, Mama?” Hope asked. While all the other children were excited, she was a bundle of nerves. Every bit of planning was met with Hope going down a checklist to make sure everything was perfect. No amount of assurances from her siblings seemed to calm her nerves. “What if he found out?”

“It’s fine.” _If she had a dollar for every time she said that this past week…_

“Look, Papa’s going to be home any minute, okay? You guys have done a great job decorating. I’ve got the cake covered, and I’m pretty sure he’s going to be _really_ surprised.”

Satisfied -or at least appeased for the moment- Hope nodded and bounded off to help Leia put more confetti on the table.

The sun was setting by the time Killian arrived. He looked exhausted, but his eyes lit up when he caught sight of the kids playing in the yard. “What’s all this?” he asked as he shut the gate.

“Sah-pize Papa!” Ivy squealed. The others quickly joined in with “surprises” and “happy birthdays” of their own.

If he’d been planning on going straight upstairs to get some rest, he didn’t let on. Instead, he let the kids lead him over to the table they’d set up.

“I’m rather fond of the princesses and dinosaurs,” Killian chuckled.

“Yeah,” Emma laughed. “They couldn’t agree on a theme.”

Like a good sport, he enthusiastically participated in all the little games they’d prepared. By cake time, he looked as though he was going to pass out.

“All right, guys,” Emma said. “Why don’t we get some cake and presents and then we can all go inside and watch a movie?”

After a very loud round of “Happy Birthday,” Killian tilted his head in confusion. “There aren’t any candles on this cake,” he commented. “Aren’t birthday cakes supposed to have candles?”

“We didn’t have enough candles, Papa!” Leia exclaimed.

“Henry said that the house would burn down anyway,” Oliver commented.

“And to think I held a pinata for you guys,” Henry feigned offense. There were no apologies, only lots of laughter from the kids. (Maybe a few hugs too.)

When all was said and done, Killian was half asleep on the couch, partially buried by a pile of sleeping kids. “We should do this every year,” he murmured, careful not to wake the kids.

“As you wish.”


End file.
